Happy New Year!

Oh hello, 2014! Delighted to see you. 2013 was the best of times and the worst of times. It was equal parts laughter and tears, overcoming and being overwhelmed, success and . . . not success. Most of the negatives stemmed from a major challenge in my personal life that had me dropping everything short of basic survival (and parenting) for May, June, July and August. So, although when I look back at the list of goals I made for myself at the start of 2013, there are plenty I didn't achieve, I still feel really good about what happened in my career in 2013. Here are the highlights:

• I got paid for acting things a LOT more than I had in a long time which was AWESOME!
• I recorded my first audio book which was a long-time dream I thought was too far off to even aspire to. It was such a great experience and I'm hoping to do many more in the coming year.
• I had a great run with the New York Neo-Futurists. After more than two years away from the company, it was great to be back and feel simultaneously new and fresh and established and comfortable. You kind of wish you could go back to EVERY job (at least every job you liked or cared about) and try again for a few weeks with hindsight.
• I got great new headshots.
• I got my reel together and up on my website.
• I did selective-but-effective professional development that taught me a lot.
• Voice overs and industrial videos and short films . . . I've set my goals in the more parent-friendly non-theater realm for the moment and it was great to find work there (and feel I did it well!)

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, except for my annual "drink more water" (some year I'll actually do it), but I do have some plans and goals for 2014.

In the personal housekeeping department, I'm very exited to return to regular exercise for the first time since before my (21 month old) son was born. I'm similarly pumped to clean out my closet - clean it WAY out - and then refill it only slightly with clothes that serve my goals as they are now. Finally, maybe because I didn't really get a break over the holidays, I'm excited to be a little less up-tight and give myself a little more time for things that I enjoy. Just a little.

Professionally, the plan is to continue to pursue my VO and on-camera goals: representation, more auditions, more bookings (more fun and more money!) and MORE AUDIO BOOKS! The silver lining of needing to cease and desist career-related activities this past Spring/Summer is that there's plenty of work to do, already itemized in last year's "goals/actionable items" document. So . . . here I go!

Hope your year is off to a great start. Leave a comment with one of YOUR goals for the coming year.